Blanche Hoschedé Monet

Claude Monet, In the Woods at Giverny: Blanche Hoschedé at Her Easel with Suzanne Hoschedé Reading, 1887, Los Angeles County Museum of Art[1]

Blanche Hoschedé Monet (1865-1947) is a French painter who was both the step daughter and the daughter-in law of Claude Monet. She was born in Paris on November 10, 1865 and died in Giverny on December 8, 1947.

Early life

The Monet and Hoschedé families c. 1880 from left to right: Claude Monet, Alice Monet, Jean-Pierre Hoschedé, Jacques Hoschedé, Blanche Hoschedé, Jean Monet, Michel Monet, Martha Hoschedé, Germaine Hoschedé, Suzanne Hoschedé

Ernest and Alice Hoschedé

Blanche Hoschedé was the second daughter of Ernest Hoschedé and Alice Hoschedé.[2] Ernest was a business man, a department store magnate in Paris. He collected impressionist paintings[3] and was an important patron to Claude Monet early in his career.[4] In 1876, he commissioned Claude Monet to paint decorative panels in the round drawing room, in his residence, the château de Rottembourg,[5] in Montgeron. In 1877 Ernest Hoschedé, went bankrupt and his art collection was auctioned off.[6]

Life with the Monets

Ernest, Alice, and their 6 children moved into a house in Vétheuil with Monet, Monet's first wife Camille, and the couple's two sons, Jean and the infant Michel. Ernest, however, spent most of his time in Paris, and eventually abandoned his family and went to Belgium. During 1879 after the death of Camille Monet, Alice Hoschedé and the 2 Monet children lived together in Paris. Eventually joining Monet in Vétheuil, and then moving with him to Poissy in 1881 and finally settling in Giverny in 1883. The relationship between Claude Monet and Alice Hoschedé developed and became official although they remained unmarried. After Ernest Hoschedé died in 1891 Claude Monet and Alice Hoschedé did marry in 1892.[7][8]

Education

Blanche Hoschede Monet, House and Garden of Claude Monet
Blanche Hoschedé Monet, Grainstack or Haystack, 1889

The only child in the Hoschedé-Monet household to become interested in art,[9] Blanche became interested in painting at the age of eleven and developed a fond relationship with Claude Monet. She studied at his school as well as Édouard Manet's. By the time that she was 17 years-of-age, she was Monet's assistant and student, often painting en plein air alongside Monet, painting the same subject with the same colors.[2]

Blanche also painted alongside American expatriate's John Leslie Breck (1860–1899), and Theodore Earl Butler. Claude Monet stopped a romance that had developed with Breck. Butler married Blanche’s sister, Suzanne Hoschedé, in 1892.[2]

Paul Durand-Ruel purchased a Haystack by Blanche Hoschedé Monet, and it currently is displayed in Claude Monet’s house in Giverny.[10] In January 1888, while in Antibes, Claude Monet encouraged Blanche to submit a work to the Salon.

Jean and Claude Monet

Blanche married Claude Monet’s eldest son, Jean Monet, in 1897. They lived in Rouen, where Jean worked for his uncle Leon Monet as a chemist,[11] and until 1913 in Beaumont-le-Roger.[2]

Her mother, Alice, died in 1911 after which Claude Monet became depressed. From that point, she became responsible for Claude Monet's household and gardens.[9]

Jean suffered an illness for a period of time and died on February 10, 1914.[12][nb 1] After Alice's death, Claude Monet's eyesight became so affected that he believed he was going blind. Blanche moved back to Giverny with Claude Monet in 1914 after Jean's death and cared for him until his death. As a result, Georges Clemenceau called her "The Blue Angel".[2][14]

Career

Most of her works were done in Giverny from 1883 to 1897, which was similar to that of Monet's work, and around Rouen. She enjoyed painting and "adopted an almost pure form of impressionism."[2]

She painted landscapes such as Pines, Poplars, and meadows along the Risle’s river. She also painted at Georges Clemenceau's house in Saint-Vincent-sur-Jard in the south of France several times in the 1920s. She made paintings of the garden, house and see there.[2] After Monet's death, she returned to Giverny and made paintings there from 1926 to 1947. Recognizing her body of work in the town, a street in Giverny bears her name.[2]

Dr. Janine Burke believes that Blanche may have assisted Monet in the painting of "Grand Decorations". Monet had trained and encouraged Blanche as an artist. In a chapter on Blanche and Monet in Source: Nature's Healing Role in Art and Writing (2009), Burke comments, "Given the sheer scale of the surfaces to be covered in the Grand Decorations, it is logical to consider Monet had an assistant, and who better than Blanche?" [15]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Collections

Her works are in the following museums

Works

A partial list of her works are:

Popular culture

A movie entitled Monet, la lumière blanche, directed by Chantal Picault, will be produced including the following actors:[19]

Notes

  1. ↑ The Metropolitan Museum of Art stated that he died in 1913.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "In the Woods at Giverny: Blanche Hoschedé at Her Easel with Suzanne Hoschedé Reading". Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "Blanche Hoschedé Monet Biography". ArtGiverny. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  3. ↑ Street Singer Provenance Information. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  4. ↑ Museyon Guides (1 July 2011). Art + Paris Impressionists & Post-Impressionists: The Ultimate Guide to Artists, Paintings and Places in Paris and Normandy. Museyon Guides. pp. 29, 30. ISBN 978-1-938450-24-2.
  5. ↑ Sue Roe, Sue (2006). The Private Lives of the Impressionists. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. p. 157. ISBN 0-06-054558-5.
  6. ↑ Christoph Heinrich (2000). Monet. Taschen. pp. 45–46. ISBN 978-3-8228-5972-8.
  7. ↑ Sophie Dargere (1991), Blanche Hoschedé Monet, Exhibition Catalogue (French)
  8. ↑ Museyon Guides (1 July 2011). Art + Paris Impressionists & Post-Impressionists: The Ultimate Guide to Artists, Paintings and Places in Paris and Normandy. Museyon Guides. pp. 23, 29. ISBN 978-1-938450-24-2.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Artists of Giverney: Blanche-Hoschedé Monet (1865-1947)". giverny.org. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  10. ↑ Jean Pierre Hoschedé (1961), Blanche Hoschedé Monet, Impressionist painter not in the shadow but in the light of Claude Monet, Rouen: Lecerf
  11. ↑ Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1978. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-87099-174-5.
  12. ↑ Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1978. p. 171. ISBN 978-0-87099-174-5.
  13. ↑ "Jean Monet (1867–1913) on His Hobby Horse". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  14. ↑ Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1978. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-87099-174-5.
  15. ↑ Janine Burke (1 June 2012). Source: Nature's Healing Role in Art and Writing. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-74237-937-1.
  16. ↑ "MONET Blanche, HOSCHEDE Blanche (née) - search on Blanche Monet". Catalogue. Joconde - Portail des collections des musées de France. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Giverny: The foundation Claude Monet". Giverny Village. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 18.6 18.7 18.8 18.9 18.10 18.11 18.12 18.13 18.14 18.15 18.16 18.17 18.18 18.19 18.20 "Blanche Hoschedé-Monet - Artworks". The Athenaeum. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Monet, La Lumiere Blanche". Premier (French). Retrieved August 27, 2014.

Further reading

External links

Media related to Blanche Hoschedé Monet at Wikimedia Commons